As Yet Untitled
by sordidicons
Summary: Can someone who's never known right from wrong be changed?
1. As Yet Untitled 1

On the roof of one of downtown Fredericksburg's many shops a petite girl with cropped red hair laid on the hot tarmac, one eye closed, the other unwavering in the site before it. It was boiling where she lay, already 93 degrees at 8 in the morning, the black roof soaking up the early sun and turning her perch into a mirage of heat waves. But, the girl didn't notice the heat radiating through her cargo shorts and tank top, just as she paid no mind to the sweat droplet that was slowly making its way down her temple. Later she would notice, but right now she had a job to do, and for her failure was never an option. 

The long black limousine rolled idly up to the red brick courthouse down the street from her position. Diplomatic flags hung limply from their tiny poles once the car stopped moving. There was no breeze to stir them to attention, to make them look more important then just dirty rags hanging from the hood. Long seconds dragged by through the circular piece of glass the girl looked through until the door finally opened. Two large men exited the limo first, looking around for a possible threat. From what they could see there was none, no movement at all on the street, the heat keeping people in their air conditioned homes and offices at this time. 

Of course, the tiny girl could have been standing 3 feet away from the limo and the men still wouldn't have noticed her. Oh, they would have seen her, she wasn't invisible to the human eye, however to the mind she might as well have been. 

_These are not the droids you are looking for. Move along._

__

Mutant powers came in pretty handy in her line of work. Though she preferred to not use what a friend once referred to as her "Jedi mind-whammy" while doing jobs. It was easier to not get close, to not get personal. It was easier when she was laying on a baking roof, space and glass separating her from her target. Who was currently exiting the limo at the nods of his bodyguards. Two seconds later he lay dead on the courthouse steps, a single bullet having entered the back of his head at a 60 degree angle, shattering bone and leaving a trail of destruction before exiting below his jawbone, severing the jugular and shattering his voice box. There was no sound in the second afterwards, as she watched her mark fall to the ground, the bodyguards mouths moving soundlessly from where she watched. 

Then the blaring bass from her headphones slammed into her ears bringing her back to reality, back to noise, back to the world from the silent intensity she slipped into while working. Rolling onto her back she flicks the droplet of sweat from her forehead and looks at the blinding intensity of the blue sky for a minute, letting the adrenaline run its course and her muscles uncoil. Taking a deep breath she finally notices the heat of the roof, and unscrews the site from her rifle before placing both back into their case. 

She walks towards the roof access door, the roof tar sticking to the soles of her white Keds, head bobbing to the rock streaming through the headphones she has taken off. They lay casually around her neck. Pulling out a cell phone she dials a number she knows by heart, waiting for the familiar double click of the recorder to start. 

"It's done." 

She clicks the phone closed and slides it back into one of the many pockets on her pants. When she gets back to her motel there will be a new file waiting for her. She hopes it takes her to someplace cooler. As the door swings shut behind her she hears the rising wail of police cars approaching before she slides her headphones back on and vanishes into the cool dark stairwell. 

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	2. As Yet Untitled 2

If any of the police officers who passed her on the street had taken notice of her, they wouldn't have given her a second look, let alone suspect her of the shooting which had take place minutes before. To them she was just another local college student walking down the street. Short and lean in cargo shorts and tank top, her red hair cut short and spiky. A couple of piercing in her ears, and average facial features, nothing special. They might have noticed the long, rectangular, thin, black case she had slung across her back, but with its assortment of band stickers and graffiti doodles it would have been quickly passed off as a guitar case of sorts. After all, wasn't every college kid is a band nowadays. She certainly looked like the type as she sauntered along the sidewalk hands in her pockets and headphones on. She probably hadn't even heard the commotion two blocks away because of the headphones she was wearing, so there was no use asking her questions. 

This is of course exactly the image she wanted people to see. Just an average girl. If she was questioned she was Celia Kane, 19 year old English major at Mary Washington, the local college. At least that's what the drivers license she was given for this file said. Next week she could be Gracie Freebush for all she knew, though she doubted that Command would ever give her such a ridiculous name. They needed their agents to be believable, invisible, and most of all morally ambiguous. 

At 15 years old she'd been all of these things. Having bounced around the foster system for several years after her mother had been killed in an auto accident when she was six she had learned quickly how to be invisible. If you didn't make a fuss, no one noticed you. Of course, you never had a permanent place to call home either. No one wants children that are past the cute toddler stage, so she was passed from foster home to foster home until she finally ended up at a youth home in New Jersey when she was 10. When she was 13 she found out she was a mutant when while playing hide and seek she went undiscovered for 5 hours even though she was hiding in an obvious spot and the other children had looked directly at her several times. In her mind she said "don't find me" and her playmates hadn't. She taught herself to control her power over the next year, until she could be standing right next to someone without them realizing it. She ran away from the home on her 14th birthday, and never looked back. She wound up in Philadelphia living on the streets, using her gift to become a pick pocket and professional shoplifter. She lived in an abandoned apartment building for a year and a half stealing everything she could ever need. And then she met Marko. 

Or rather, Marko caught her trying to pick his pocket one afternoon in front of the Liberty Bell. She liked to hunt the historical district, lots of tourists who were easily parted from their money. She never thought she'd get caught, but then she had never tried to rob another mutant before. Or at least one that was telepathic and saw her despite her powers. He had grabbed her wrist just as she had slid her fingers into his pocket, and she was so startled that she didn't even think to scream. Screaming would just get her arrested quicker, and if she was lucky she could sob story her way out of handcuffs. But before she could even open her mouth she heard a voice in her own head. 

_"I'm not going to turn you in."_

__

Having never had anyone speak to her telepathically she did the only thing she could in the situation. She passed out. 

-- 

When she next awoke she was in the back of a Taxi heading out of the city, and she wasn't alone. The man she had tried to pick pocket was sitting beside her looking intently out the window. Escape flashed through her mind, but as she reached for the door handle he had spoken softly to her. 

"I wouldn't do that." 

His eyes never left the window and yet he knew exactly what she was going to do. Then she remembered the voice in her head, and a million questions swirled in her mind. Who is he? What does he want? How does he know what I'm going to do before I do it? Am I going to get out of this alive? 

The man beside her breathed an amused rush of air and turned to face her. 

"Marko, help, telepathy, and yes." 

"Um, what?" She had asked, dazed by the seemingly nonsensical sentence. 

"The answers to your questions. My name is Marko, I want your help, I'm a telepath so I can hear your thoughts and know your actions, and finally yes, you will get out of this alive. And hopefully with a real job, a place to stay, and some security. Something I know you don't have living on the streets." 

He had taken her to a white cinderblock building that resembled a cross between a factory and a prison some where in cow country, Pennsylvania and that's where she had met Command. They were recruiters, taking people with special abilities and less morals then the normal populace and training them. They taught her how to hone her abilities to the point where even Marko, an alpha level telepath, couldn't detect her presence without extreme concentration. They taught her to shoot, to fight, and to win. Most of all they taught her that she had a place in the world. She wasn't just another mutant runaway, and Marko became her teacher, friend, and surrogate big brother. They knew everything about her, except for her real name. And she had become so many people over the past three years, that sometimes she couldn't remember if she ever had a real name to begin with. But, that was all a part of the job. Travel the country and take out your marks. Everything is paid for by command, and when one mark is done, you get a new one. A big manilla envelope shows up by courier with photographs, new identifications, and any instructions. The old envelope and everything that was in it was burned until there was nothing left. That was the way the job was done, no deviation, or else someone might get a folder with your photograph in it. She didn't love her work, but it wasn't the worst job in the world, and she wouldn't give it up for anything. 

As she entered the lobby in the hotel in which she had been living for the past two weeks she thought about where she might be next week, and what she wanted to have for dinner that night. In the elevator up to the 3rd floor she hummed along to her MP3 player. And as she entered her room she waved and smiled at the woman down the hall. Later that night Celia Kane would burn to cinders and someone new would walk out of the hotel room the next morning. But right now she was hungry and Thai food sounded really good to Celia. 

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	3. As Yet Untitled 3

The next morning Alexa Reed boarded the 10:06 Amtrak train for Westchester, New York. Her new persona was strikingly true to her own history, she was a 17 year old runaway with no surviving relatives. She was a mutant, and looking for a place to call home. Her objective was to find a way to get into Xavier's School for the Gifted, and her mark was Charles Xavier himself. Unlike most of her other targets Alexis actually knew who Charles Xavier was, she had seen him many times on television rallying for equal rights for mutants. She thought his ideas were good, but far to visionary for her tastes. Then of course she had also seen him after the whole Statue of Liberty snafu the previous year, trying to calm the rising anti-mutant tensions. That guy they had locked up for the terrorist attack was more on line with her way of thinking. He was right, there were going to be hard times ahead, maybe not war, but definitely small battles. But, it wasn't her place to choose sides. She did what she was told, and right now she was being told to infiltrate this school, and kill Charles Xavier. 

Ten hours later she had arrived in Westchester, with its mansions and rolling green lawns. Thankfully it was cooler then Virginia, and from what she could tell from the surveillance photos, the school itself was actually a mansion several miles off the beaten track. It was surrounded by woods on three sides, and had all the perks of the filthy rich. This Xavier guy was from old money, his family having been in America from the time when it was still called The Colonies. So he could afford to have an Olympic sized pool, a basketball court, and tennis courts in the rear of his property. Approximately 50 rooms made up the sprawling building, including what appeared to be an indoor solarium/garden and a full restaurant sized kitchen. Oddly though the file reported that there were no records of any sort of housekeeping services, something that most mansions of that size routinely had. She guessed she'd be washing her own clothes for the short time she was there, though it would have been nice to for once, have someone wait on her. 

The taxi ride to the school from the train station was spent mentally preparing, becoming Alexis and fortifying her cover in her mind. She assumed that Command made her story analogous to her own history in order to help her fool her way into the school. There were at least two alpha level telepaths on the school ground, one of them being Charles Xavier himself. If she had a completely bogus cover he'd discover her in a second and there would go her easy in to the school and access to her target. The file stated that infiltrating the school was high priority since Xavier very rarely left the school's grounds. Confined to a high tech wheelchair for most of his life he rarely left Westchester, the exceptions being when he had to go to Washington to speak in front of the House. If he had to give an interview he almost always did it from his office, which was located in the northern wing of the school. Xavier himself was also a teacher at the school, so he had classes to teach and little time for globe trotting. 

When the taxi pulled up to the large iron gates and stone wall that enclosed the property a seed of doubt planted itself inside her stomach. It had been a long time since she had been in contact with so many other people, and she had never been around so many mutants before. If one of them even caught so much of a whiff of her plan she had no idea what they would do to her. But, she had been trained by the best, and she quickly quashed that flowering seed and raised her mental shields that said _I am who I say I am. . .you can trust me._ She paid the driver, and stepped out of the cab. Slinging her case across her back, and her well used backpack over her shoulder Alexis looked for the call box that would set her lie into motion. 

-- 

The lies poured out of her mouth, as easily as the tears fled her eyes, telling the voice on the other end of the line her cover. 

"My name is Alexis and I was told you could help me..." 

They had opened the gate for her, the tiny security camera attached to the stone wall vigilant of her every move. The packed dirt driveway stretched before her, shaded by old growth maples and edged by a neatly cut lawn. It looked every bit the mansion she expected as the two story while building came fully into view. Even from the driveway she could hear the sounds of children laughing and screaming coming from the side of the house. No doubt many of the students were in the pool on a warm day like today. She climbed the four wide stairs to the double doors, but before she could knock they opened to reveal a short African American woman with shockingly white hair and a kind smile. Alexis had the good mind to look surprised and nervous, she was after all coming to a place she supposedly had never seen or heard about before a week ago when a "friend" had suggested it to her. 

"Hello, my name is Ororo Monroe, welcome to Xavier's Institute for the Gifted. Alexis, isn't it?" The woman motioned her into the foyer, which of course was exactly what Alexis had expected it to look like, something out of a romance novel. Dark wood paneling lined the walls and a grand staircase took up the left side of the foyer. In front of her a hallway stretched as far as she could see, and to the left and right there were more hallways that stretched into infinity. 

"Yes. Alexis Murphy. I was told that this was a school, that Mister Xavier could help me learn to control _my power_." The last words were said in a whisper. Alexis was supposed to know she was a mutant but not know that everyone who lived here was one too. It was always better to play dumb and shy when entering a situation this close, it made her more sympathetic and easier to trust. To them she was just a scared kid grasping at straws, hoping this Xavier guy could help her. So much for the adage what you don't know won't hurt you. 

"Of course child, the Professor will help you learn to control your gift. And you needn't be afraid, we all are mutants here." Ororo had given her a kind smile and motioned for Alexis to follow her. They entered the hallway to the right of the foyer and Ororo started to give her the standard "welcome" speech. She already knew when the school was founded and by who, it was all in her file. She made herself look interested while she mentally tracked their progress into the building, along with possible exits. She always had a way to escape when it came to close ops. First if something went bad and she had to get out quick, like if Xavier suspected she was lying. But also in order for a quick get away once the job was done. She certainly didn't want to hang around this place any longer then she had to. 

With the standard ooh's and ahh's in the proper places Alexis graciously took her tour of the grounds. She was slightly surprised by the number of people that she passed in the halls, and even more surprised at the obvious use of their mutations. Children seemed to fly around the halls at every turn, and she was sure she had seen a girl walk through a wall right in front of her at one point. A tiny part of her wished that she had found this place first, but then she felt the small daggers pressing into the small of her back and her ankle and she remembered that she probably had it better then everyone that lived here. She was free, could move where she liked and actually liked what she did. School wasn't the place for her, never was. 

The tour finished back in the front hallway before a set of large wooden doors. A small brass plaque on the door read 'Charles Xavier'. The tingles of adrenaline started to surge to Alexis' fingertips and she was more aware then ever of the sharp blades hidden on her body. She could do it now, slit his throat, and no one would be the wiser. 

"...professor won't be back for a few days." Ororo's voice cut into her thoughts. 

"I'm sorry?" She dropped the hand that had been reaching for the doorknob back to her side. 

"I said the professor won't be back for a few days. He's away on business at the moment. But I'm sure he will be eager to meet you when he returns." Ororo smiled kindly at her and opened the door, ushering her into the large room. "For now we'll have you fill out some papers and then show you to your room." 

Alexis sat in the large winged back chair closest to the large mahogany desk which took up must of the back corner of the room. It was cluttered, but neat with stacks of papers covering most of the blotter. Disappointment at not being able to get in and out settled in as Ororo pulled a folder out of a file cabinet on the wall to the left of the desk. 

She hated being this close. She hated the fact that she would have to stay here for the next couple of days even more. That meant being social, something she had grown unaccustomed to lately. Relegated to waiting she tried to look happy as she filled out the paperwork Ororo had handed her, easily spitting out her fake history onto the forms. 

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	4. As Yet Untitled 4

Just when Alexis thought she would kill someone if she had to fill out one more form Ororo declared them done and collected everything back into the folder, placing it in one of the many piles on the desk. They made there way out of the office and up the grand staircase Alexis had seen when she first walked in. Making a right down the main hallway, and then up a second smaller flight of stairs around the corner they came out into a slightly smaller hallway on the second floor. Ororo explained that this was the girls floor, the boys rooms were on the floor below them, off the main hallway, and that the teachers and other adults lived on the topmost floor. The adults floor was off limits unless you were given permission to be there for a specific reason. The boys floor was off limits to girls after 11pm and before 7am, and the same was true for the boys on the girl floor. 

While Ororo rattled off the other house rules and information (breakfast was 7 to 9am, lunch was 12 to 2pm, and dinner was 4:30 to 6:30pm) Alexis surveyed the rooms she was passing. The doors that were closed were decorated with posters and white boards that were scribbled with notes. It was much like the college dorms she had visited while in Fredericksburg. The rooms she could see into though looked much nicer then any dorm room she had ever seen. Each one was decorated according to who was living there, some neat, others cluttered with clothes all over the floor and the bed. Some were singles, others had two girls living together. Alexis sincerely hoped she was in a single, it would be easier to stay detached that way, not to mention hiding the weapons she had in her duffle bag. 

They finally reached a white door, empty of decoration, towards the end of the hallway. Ororo pushed the door open to reveal an equally devoid of decorations room. White walls, beige carpeting, white sheets and comforter. Besides the full sized bed there was also a small desk and bureau in a light colored pine. It was sterile and bright, light streamed through the French doors leaving squares on the carpet. 

"This will be your room. A little bland, but we encourage our students to decorate it as they please." Ororo glanced at the duffle slung over Alexis' shoulder. "If you should need anything the school can arrange to take you to the shopping center downtown." 

"I think I'll be okay." Dropping the duffle on the bed Alexis managed a smile of thanks at Ororo. 

"We shall see you at dinner then. If you have any questions ask anyone on the hall, they'll be more then happy to help you." Ororo closed the door behind her and Alexis finally relaxed her stance. It was hard to be cheerful when all she wanted to do was be on a rooftop somewhere with her headphones on and the scope in front of her. 

Sighing she put away the clothes that she had brought in the small closet and the bureau, then put her minimal toiletries in the bathroom. At least the room looked like someone lived in it now. The two handguns and her throwing knives she left in the duffle bag and slid it under her bed. Finally she unstrapped the knife from her back and placed it under her pillow. Cliché, but it made her feel safer in an unfamiliar place. The smaller double edged dagger she left in it's holder strapped to her ankle. She never knew when she would need it, and frankly she didn't like to go anywhere without some sort of weapon on her. 

She had just grabbed her headphones and set her watch for a 5pm alarm when there was a knock on her door. Making sure everything was hidden she walked over to the door and peaked out and was almost bowled over as a flash of yellow bowled into her room. 

"Oh man, you're so lucky you got a single! Most people are in doubles now, not that I mind rooming with my chica Rogue but still, closet space!" 

The girl in yellow flounced onto her bed while Alexis blinked, still standing in her now open doorway. 

"You'll have to excuse Jubilee, she's nothing if not rude. I'm Rogue." The second girl who was politely standing outside of her room extended a gloved hand. In fact, Alexis noticed, this girl seemed to be covered from head to toe. 

"Alexis. Would you like to come in?" Rogue nodded and walked into the room, Alexis shut the door behind her, and locked it out of habit. 

"So, you're new. Where're ya from?" Jubilee popped the bright pink gum she was chewing and bounced her heals against the bed. Alexis could tell immediately that she did not like this girl, loud nosy people were trouble, and she did not want to become involved with these people. 

"Philadelphia. Pennsylvania originally. But mostly all over." Alexis answered the girls questions and spun her lies for the next hour until her watched beeped at 5 o'clock. No, Jubilee was definitely not her favorite person. But Rogue seemed nice enough, quiet, probably not someone who got into trouble a lot. While Jubilee had trouble written all over her. 

"Dinner time!" Jubilee practically launched herself off Alexis' bed. "You coming?" Alexis followed the two girls down to the already crowded cafeteria for dinner where she was introduced to the girls' friends including the girl she had seen walk through a wall earlier and three boys. Halfway through their meal a large, hairy man in plaid and denim had approached Rogue and spoken to her in tones to low for her to pick out from where she was sitting. He was definitely on her list of people to avoid. Especially when he looked up at her, sniffed, and gave her a questioning look. 

"Who was that?" She elbowed Remy, one of the boys Jubilee and Rogue were friends with, who was sitting to her left at the table. 

"Dat was the Wolverine. He and Rogue be 'special friends'." Remy frowned, he obviously liked Rogue but this Wolverine was a roadblock if there ever was. 

"Do y'all want to play pool after dinner?" Rogue's voice from the other end of the table halted anymore questions she might have had. 

----- 


	5. As Yet Untitled 5

Pool was one of the few games that came easily to Alexis. The simple geometry of lining up shots was second nature to her, and consequently she could be quite the shark. Though she had a sneaking suspicion that the Wolverine would give her a run for her money. 

After dinner the seven of them made their way to the den where there were foozball tables, pool tables, sundry arcade games, a pinball machine and what looked to be the largest, most comfortable couch and recliners that Alexis had ever seen in front of a windscreen television. Lifestyles of the rich and the famous, she thought, though it made sense, this was a school for mutants not all of which could just mosey into the local arcade. So, bring the arcade to them. 

It was quickly apparent why Rogue had wanted to play pool after dinner though, when they found Wolverine and another man she didn't recognize occupying one of the tables. They seemed to be evenly matched, though the guy in the shades seemed to be overly tense about something. 

"That's Mr. Summers," Rogue pointed the unknown man out to her, "he teaches here too, math, most people don't like him cause they think he's got a stick up his butt, though personally I've always thought he was okay." 

"I can see why they would think that..." Alexis studied the man in the red shades more carefully, he did appear the anal retentive type with his button front, perfectly pressed shirt and chinos. Something straight out of a J. Crew catalogue. He was watching the Wolverine closely as the other man found his shot and sunk the 3 ball, something was going on between them that's for sure. If she wasn't so adamant about not getting involved she might be curious as to what that something was. 

"Come on, lets take the other table." Jubilee grabbed Alexis' arm and dragged her over to the table next to the one where the two men were playing. 

"You must be Alexis, welcome to Xaviers, I'm Scott Summers," she reached out to shake his proffered hand, "and this is Logan." He just nodded at her. 

"Thanks." Shy and quiet, avoid eye contact, fidget. Sometimes it amazed her how easily you could fool people. 

"Well, I'll let you get back to your game, and I'll be seeing you in class I'm sure." Scott smiled at her and then gave Jubilee a look. "You too Jubilee." 

"Yeah, yeah Mr. Summers I'll be there." Jubilee finished racking the balls and grabbed a cue from the wall, handing it to Alexis. "You break?" 

Alexis nodded and chalked her cue before lining up her break. One solid hit and two solids and a striped fell into their pockets. "I'll take solids." She sank two more balls before purposefully missing her third shot and letting Jubilee have the table. All the while she felt Logan's eyes on her when he wasn't lining up his own shots. She was going to have to be careful of him, he made her hackles rise, and that always meant trouble. 

After fifteen minutes or so Alexis finished the game by sinking the eight ball in the side pocket. By that time Scott and Logan had also finished their game and had watched her sink her last couple of shots. 

"Wow, you're really good." Jubilee handed her pool cue over to Remy who had called winner. Alexis just shrugged. 

"Lessee how she does against someone who know how to play, eh?" Remy racked the balls and broke sinking two striped balls. 

Ten minutes later Alexis once again sunk the eight ball to win the game, this time she had purposely missed less shots. Remy was actually good enough that she didn't have to work to seem to match his skill. 

"Oui, she is good with the cue." Remy handed his cue over to Bobby, and Alexis handed hers to Rogue, choosing to sit the next game out. 

"How about a real game?" Logan had wandered over to where she was standing watching Bobby and Rogue's equally poor performance at the game. 

"What do you mean?" Alexis felt her danger signals start to go off, she didn't like to be this close to him. She normally wasn't scared of much, but this man...he scared her. 

"You missed shots on purpose to try and be nice. You're better then you look, so I'm offering you a chance to go all out. You game?" He raised an eyebrow in her direction. 

----- 

Halfway through their game Alexis was reconfirming her thoughts that this was possibly the stupidest thing she had ever done. She had let Logan goad her into playing pool against him, and now she was being watched by not only her new "friends", but by what seemed to be the rest of the school as well. Apparently news spreads quickly in the school, and about two minutes after she broke students had started to trickle into the den. Just a couple at first, but then they started to show up in twos and threes, making a horseshoe around the pool table where she and Logan were playing. 

Logan didn't seem to be phased by their audience, but it was setting her on edge. It was hard to stay anonymous when suddenly the whole student body was watching your every move. Apparently even some of the staff had heard that there was a real game going on, because Ororo had shown up, as well as a red head that she had yet to meet. 

Though apparently Logan knew her, because as soon as she stepped into the room his eyes had gone to her. The red head had smiled at him, but then had gone over to stand next to Scott. They were definitely a couple, though Alexis couldn't help but wonder if she was being less then faithful, if the look Logan had given her was any indication. Then again Scott wasn't exactly ugly, so maybe not. It was hard to tell with people you'd only known for half a day, and Alexis wasn't anxious to get sucked into their lives and gossip. Though it would explain the tense anxiety she had witnessed between Logan and Scott earlier. 

Logan had missed his last shot, and she took her eyes off the crowd to concentrate on lining her shot up. Logan hadn't left her much to work with angle wise, but she might be able to pull something off. So far they were pretty well even, each with three balls left on the table plus the black eight ball. She wasn't holding back, and neither was he, and for the first time in a long time Alexis was actually having fun instead of trying to hustle someone at the game. She lined up her shot, and hit the cue ball against the head rail of the table, where it hit and rolled back towards the red one ball. The one rolled towards the corner pocket on her left side, but glanced off the rail. Alexis had not only missed her shot, but had left the cue ball in perfect position for Logan to sink his 12 ball. 

"Crap." 

Logan just smirked at her frown and then sank his remaining balls and the eight ball in short order. 

"Good game." Logan set his cue down on the green felt and offered his hand. She shook it and went to return her cue stick to the wall rack. Logan did the same, and Alexis almost slammed into him when she turned around to walk away. 

"How'd you get that good?" He had asked innocently enough, but Alexis could sense the underlying suspicion. 

"When I was little, my grandfather taught me." Alexis stepped past the larger man, intent on getting out of the room as quickly as possible. 

"Interesting," she shrugged, as he put his cue back on the wall rack, and turned to face her, "because you play like a hustler." 

Alexis narrowed her eyes, but before she could say anything she found herself surrounded by Jubilee, Rogue, and what seemed like 20 other people she didn't know. 

"Wow chica! You totally almost kicked Wolvie's butt!" Jubilee latched onto her elbow and dragged her from the den all the while chattering incessantly while Alexis just shrugged or nodded. She could feel Logan's eyes on her as she left the room, and knew it was only a matter of time before he caught up with her again and next time she might have to answer his questions. Somehow, she was going to have to avoid him until Xavier returned. 

----- 


End file.
